The Washington Post blog, "The Watch" notes that several small Indiana towns and counties have purchased surplus military gear and implies that it might be overkill for these small communities and sends a wrong message about the traditional police motto of "protect and serve." The piece also cites statistics that show homicide rates are declining in the U.S.

The Star quotes Gayer as saying, "The United States of America has become a war zone. There's violence in the workplace, there's violence in schools and there's violence in the streets."

In an interview Tuesday with PulaskiPost.com, Gayer said that beginning Monday night he started receiving a lot of nasty email from across the country, some of it accusing him of wanting to establish a police state. "They think we're cruising the streets in armored vehicles with machine guns."

But, a "war zone?"

"Maybe that's too strong," Gayer conceded. "But it isn't Disneyland either. Perhaps homicide rates are down, but it's a different time. Twenty years ago you could run the Boston Marathon without worrying about getting your legs blown off. You didn't worry about going to the mall or the movies or to school and getting shot."

The blog also ran two photos, one of a war zone in Syria and one of the peaceful Pulaski County courthouse to explain to the sheriff what a real war zone looks like. But Gayer was unimpressed.

"Instead of the local courthouse, they should have run photos of the bombed out Federal Building in Oklahoma City, or the twin towers in New York City," he said. "I know what a war zone looks like."

Is a lot of the surplus military equipment "overkill?"

"Undoubtedly," acknowledges Gayer. Often it isn't exactly what a law enforcement agency would prefer, but it is what has been made available to police departments across the country for the past couple of decades. And in spite of criticism near and far - and often from the local county council and commissioners - Gayer has found ways to make use of it, or have it on hand in the event of future needs and emergencies.

Gayer has always described himself as a pro-active sheriff, and makes no apologies for it. He is also not the first county sheriff to take advantage of acquiring surplus military equipment. Former sheriff Paul Grandstaff also purchased some gear from the surplus program.

In addition, since 9-11, law enforcement agencies and government officials have been under pressure from Homeland Security and expectations from the public to be prepared for every foreseeable emergency, man-made or natural. In today's atmosphere, there's always a lot of blame waiting to be liberally applied to any agency not prepared.

As the U.S. withdraws from Iraq and Afghanistan, stateside warehouses are filling with excess military equipment. State officials have noted that acquiring some of this gear has saved taxpayers a lot of money and outfitted sheriffs and police chiefs statewide with equipment they otherwise could not have afforded.

Historically, the U.S. has disposed of surplus military equipment in a variety of ways. After World War II, some of it was re-fitted for farmers' use (one advertisement noted that "modern flame throwers" could be used to destroy weeds and tree stumps or split rocks). Sometimes it has been sold to other nations (with mixed results). And there are always the military surplus stores.

In recent years, Pulaski County has obtained a lengthy list of surplus military equipment, everything from a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle to tents. Gayer notes he never thought his application for the MRAP would be approved. But it was, and it has been outfitted for use by the joint Pulaski/Starke SWAT team.

A complete list of materials for Pulaski and other counties/cities may be found in the Star article.

By Karen Clem Fritz, PulaskiPost.com editor